Markets

For LIB anodes

The EV market is set to grow significantly in the next few years, with every established automobile manufacturer developing electric versions (from hybrids to full electric); along with new entrants into the market focused on new all-electric cars. The current choice of battery is the Li-ion battery, that uses graphite (mainly) as the anode material.
The LIB graphite requirement for EV applications has been estimated to exceed 1.9 million metric tons by 2028 (Source: Benchmark Mineral Intelligence), and shortfalls in the supply chain have been predicted by mid-decade (if current expansion plans are maintained). Additionally, graphite is limited in its capacity (372 mAh/g).
This has created an opportunity for next-generation LIB anode materials like composites of carbon and silicon. The next-generation LIB anode material market is estimated to exceed $6B by 2029 (Bloomberg, 2019).
Farad Power Inc is using its patented carbon technology to develop carbon/silicon composites that promise better price/performance due to its cheaper pre-cursor materials and simpler manufacturing processes.

For NIB electrodes​

Sodium-ion battery technology is not as advanced as LIB technology, but it does hold the promise of an inherently cheaper battery. Also, while not as energy-dense as LIBs, NIBs are safer, with a supply-chain that does not overlap the LIB supply-chain. NIBs are suitable for the following applications: Grid-attached storage Micro-grid storage EV charging stations Small EVs like electric 2-wheelers and 3-wheelers. The overall market for NIBs has been estimated to be >$1.4Billion by 2028 (Source: UBS Investment Bank, 2019), while the global grid-attached storage market has been estimated to be >$400Billion by 2030 (Source: Roland Berger, 2018). For the anode, we are using our carbon technology to develop hard carbons suitable for NIB anode applications. For the cathode, we are using our carbon composite technology to develop pre-metallized carbon/sulfur composites.

For LIB cathodes​

With the increasing interest in applications like electric flight, the development of high energy-density batteries has intensified and focused on Li-S batteries. Carbon/sulfur cathode materials have shown inherently higher capacity than the cathode chemistries in use today. Although the cell voltages of Li-S batteries are inherently lower than LIBs’, they do hold the promise of higher energy density with the right combination, morphology and distribution of carbon and sulfur compounds in the cathode.
We are using our carbon composite technology to develop pre-metallized carbon/sulfur composites for these high energy-density battery applications.
These cathode materials are then combined with our carbon/silicon composite anode materials, to configure a high-energy density battery.

For EDLC electrodes

High power-density devices like electric double-layer capacitors (EDLCs) utilize high purity, high porosity activated carbons for their anodes and cathodes. The initial applications were for wind turbine blade pitch control, but transportation applications are the future demand drivers for this class of devices. EDLC devices have been used to power buses and are also being developed for the power tool industry.
The market size for EDLC devices is estimated to be $1.5Billion by 2030 (IDTechEx, 2019), with hybrid cars, buses and trucks being the main demand drivers.
Current generation EDLC devices predominantly use activated carbons derived from coconut-shell char. These have a fixed pore distribution structure and are suitable for the organic liquid electrolytes used in today’s EDLCs.
The next generation of EDLCs require high voltage ionic-liquid based electrolytes, driving the need for advanced carbons with a different pore structure than the existing coconut-shell based activated carbons’. The flexible nature of our advanced carbon process allows us to synthesize activated carbons with different pore size distributions suitable for different electrolyte applications.